2.3 billion Christians can't be wrong

How did Christianity get so popular around the world?  This video breaks it down from a historical perspective:

This is not hate speech, it's belief

 This man is not wrong, and not afraid of it either.

This just creeps me out

The U.N. just keeps getting not only worse, but more and more creepy. If they aren't nefarious, why would they do something like this? Stupidity? Trolling Christians? 

Existential Catholicism Crisis

The Catholic Church seems to have lost its way.  Paul Joseph Watson is typically both boisterous and bellicose.  But he's also usually right. Here' he calls the Catholic church to task for abandoning Christianity's principles.

"A priest, a rabbi and a comedian walk into a YouTube studio..."

 A discussion on spirituality between David Rubin, Bishop Robert Barron and Rabbi David Wolpe:

Saturday Learning Series - Christianity 101

 A very brief history of Christianity.

Christianity and the West - a Christmas message

Courtesy of Bill Whittle and company, a treatise on the impact of Christianity on the West and the world.

Why Poland matters

Poland for years has been carrying the banner of Western values of freedom of speech, individual liberty, Christian values, and national sovereignty .  Perhaps it's because Poland has not been truly free since World War II, having been subjugated and then by the communists of Soviet Russia.  Having tasted freedom for such a relatively short period of roughly three decades, they are not about to surrender their liberty to globalist and/or dictatorial leadership, or creeping Sharia Law.  The Polish people seem to get what the Germans (and many Americans) are unwilling to recognize.

These two videos illustrate a lot these points that you'll not see in the mainstream media in America or much of Western Europe.

Poland has managed to carry this through an Obama presidency which was antithetical to many of these values AND in the face of Russian aggression in the Ukraine, which truly says something for the backbone of the Polish people.

Saturday Learning Series - The Myth of Christian Dark Ages

Conventional 'wisdom' that the Dark Ages in Europe was the fault of Christianity. But the church was actually the institution that helped preserve the knowledge that was deteriorating as the result of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Saturday Learning Series - Christianity, the second 1000 years

Continued from earlier, the first 1000 years, the documentary on the history of Christianity continues into the second millennium.

Saturday Learning Series - Christianity, the first 1000 years

An interesting documentary on the first 1000 years of the world's largest religion.

Earlier today I offered some thoughts on Eastern vs. Western philosophy on society and how it relates to happiness. Near the end of it, I mentioned that  in the West we do have the foundation for a successful society (based on the concept of the individual being more important than the collective). Obviously that means within the rule of law.  I thought I should expand a little bit on the foundation piece.

Then I remembered that there was a recent discussion between Bill Whittle and Andrew Klavan that does a lot of the heavy lifting on that.  Here, they discuss the Christian roots of our unique culture and how it enables individuality.

Klavan, Whittle on Christianity

Bill Whittle and Andrew Klavan discuss the unique attribute of Christianity among religions that enables freedom and prosperity:

The Pope, Christmas and the Holy Land

In my previous post, I was less than complimentary to the Pope.  I thought I'd counterbalance it with some positive words about the Pontiff.  After all, it is his birthday today.  In the same article in The Guardian that talked about the Pope standing by his comments on capitalism as though all of capitalism were the incarnation of Ebenezer Scrooge, the Pope also spoke about Christmas and the Holy Land:

He said that his thoughts during that time went above all to Christians living in the Holy Land, where he is expected to go next year.

He said he would like to mark the 50th anniversary of Paul VI's pioneering visit in 1964 – the first papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the first time a reigning pontiff had flown on a plane – along with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian church.

He added that violence targeted at Christians in some parts of the world was forming the basis of what he called a new ecumenism of blood. "In some countries they kill Christians because they wear a cross or have a Bible, and before killing them they don't ask them if they're Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox," he said.

"Those who kill Christians don't ask you for an identity card in order to know what church you were baptised in. We must take this reality into account."

Christmas, said Francis, was a time of hope and tenderness that should shake people from indifference when they are confronted with suffering in the world.

That is good and worthy of applause.  

Science, religion and the Dark Ages

I've long held a notion to post an essay about how science and religion can co-exist quite successfully but I've never gotten around to doing more than mentioning it, and not done it justice.  As part of the discussion, an entire book could be written on the subject of debunking the notion that the Dark Ages were a result of Christianity and the Roman Catholic church (in fact all organized Christian religion).

Now it looks like that portion of the effort - the Dark Ages part - is less necessary. RealClearScience has a terrific article by Alex B. Berezow and James Hannam that does a lot of that legwork in refuting the discussions of Jerry Coyne.

Historians have long realized that the great conflict between science and religion is a myth. But it continues to be an article of faith among the New Atheists. In contrast to his views on evolution, Dr. Coyne thinks that he can ignore the evidence from history and disregard the settled view of experts in the field. But, being a scholar and a rational man, we’re sure that he will change his mind if shown to be wrong.

From that premise, they take apart portions of Coyne's arguments with astute observations.

Actually, historians start the Western scientific tradition with the “12th Century Renaissance” 500 years before Galileo. If you want to know why there were not many people doing natural philosophy before that, the answer includes words like “barbarian invasions,” “collapse of civilization,” “Huns,” “Goths,” and “Vikings.” The fact that some scientific knowledge survived the upheaval after the fall of the Roman Empire was largely due to the Church.

They argue that Christianity was not a barrier to scientific achievement but that it in fact supported it in spite of all of the other factors that kept impeding progress.

What’s truly amazing is just how much science early Christians were doing. John Philoponus (c. 490 – c. 570) was one of the first Christian professors in Alexandria. Historians today are stunned by his achievements.

As a Christian, Philoponus was happy to ditch pagan orthodoxy and start afresh. So he was the first to actually do the experiment of dropping stones, proving Aristotle wrong about falling objects. Alas, shortly after he died, Egypt was invaded by the Persians and then by the Arabs. Alexandria lost its status as an important center of learning, while the Byzantine Empire went into siege mode as it fought an existential struggle for survival. Not a great environment for science!

It's worth reading, and certainly worth a lot more discussion. For too long Christianity has shouldered the blame for a millennia of turtle-like scientific progress and such is not the case.  Never has there been a need to view science as the antithesis of religion.  There have been times and places where it has been, but the story has been oversold as THE cause for delay in human progress.  However there were also times and places where monasteries were the ones keeping the candle of knowledge from flickering out entirely in Europe. Credit, where it is due, is lacking.

Christianity vs Science is the wrong question

ABC news reporter Dan Harris asks the question Can Christianity and Science co-exist.  It's an easy question to answer: Yes.  There is no Biblical or theological dictate against the rocket science, or chemistry for example. True there have been in history periods where those trying to discover the truths behind physics for example, were persecuted. Galileo comes to mind.  On the other hand one of the most brilliant scientific minds in history Sir Isaac Newton, was deeply religious.

Of course science and Christianity can co-exist. Despite the fact that their are zealots on both sides of the supposed divide.  But that's not really the question Dan asks in this video.  He's asking if Christianity and evolution theory can co-exist.

That's a trickier question but even there, it seems that some sort of convergence is possible.

Oh, and it's some Christian holiday too.

Earlier this week it was reported on ABC some town in Iowa decided to rename Easter to 'Spring Holiday'.  The de-Christianification of America continues.  They cited separation of church and state as their reason. It's more like separation of city officials and brains. Despite the ever-receding influence of Christianity in American politics and culture, it is still the dominant religion on the planet and in the U.S. It has nevertheless been tarnished and sullied at every turn by various progressive zealots.

The latest example, today Google's main page.

Christianity In China: Dead or Alive?

According to official Chinese government sources, there are approximately 14 million Christians in China. Unofficial sources put it as high as 130 million, and the most realistic efforts at enumeration put it at about 54 million Christians in China. That number represents approximately 4% of China's population, and it is growing significantly. That's despite official efforts to restrict it.

This CBS clip from 2007 doesn't do the situation complete justice.



But does it matter what religion Chinese choose? Yes and no. It doesn't matter in the sense that the issue is really that the freedom to choose a religion in China is stifled. While they allow Christianity now, it's only through the government approved version of the Catholic Church, which the Catholic Church itself sees as subverting the role of the Vatican with respect to appointing priests. Other versions of Christianity are all underground still.

In some sense it does matter if Chinese people follow Christianity. Many Muslims claim that Islam is the world's fastest growing religion, while Christians claim that Christianity is. Converting Chinese to Christianity does a couple of things for the West. It provides us some cultural common ground, which is important in a world where China is emerging as a great power. China as an ally would be better than China as the alternative. It also lowers the risk of radical Islam finding a foothold there. Islam is a religion whose sensibilities are somewhat different than our own;

Founded in 622 A.D., Islam is among the newer major religions. But to the non-Muslim world, it sometimes appears inflexible. Clashes between Islamic tradition and Western influence are sweeping the globe.

In Islam, contrary to Western beliefs, the rights of the community are considered more important than the rights of the individual. Women are seen primarily as caretakers of the home, and religion strongly influences schools, government and courts.

You could argue that radical Christianity is a risk too, but unlike Islam, there is a clear and unequivocal denunciation of radicals within the community. Furthermore, Christianity has as a fundamental tenet freedom of choice. It's the key to the Western world. Free markets, and freedom of religion flow from that fundamental concept.

In any case, China is likely more prone to adopt Christianity as a foreign influence than Islam. It ties into the fact that the Chinese people are interested in owning GM cars, getting jobs in Europe and America and China is producing a growing number of English speaking citizens. It will soon have more than the United States.

Christianity is poised to fare well in China, provided liberalization of freedoms is not halted as per Tianamenn Square or a la the situation in Iran. For the United States and Western Europe that's a good thing. It doesn't solve every problem that exists with China, nor should it. The growth of Christianity represents a symptom of change in that country, not a cause. But at some point it may become part of a snowball effect with the religion leading to a demand for more freedom, and more freedom creating more interest in religion(s).

The Chinese people have started the move from a command economy to a semi-market-based economy, and from a cultural oppression to very limited cultural freedom. That process should be encouraged to continue until the process will push itself along without any help. Christianity will serve as the canary in the coal mine for much of it.